A Child's Nightmare
by TheNCISQueen
Summary: Just him and his son. It's been two months since it happened and Tony is trying as hard as he can to raise his young son...


May 24th, 2011 It was like any other normal spring day in Virginia. Tony was called in early that morning to work because of a tip on the most recent case the team was working on. His wife, Annabelle was on call that week so she stayed home with Matthew, their 18 month-old son, a spitting image of Tony. When Annabelle woke up, it seemed suspiciously quiet. Yawning, she walked into Matthew's room where he was sleeping. She walked over to his crib and picked him up. She carried him to the kitchen, by then he was starting to wake up. Annabelle sat him on the counter and got some milk out of the fridge for him. As she was pouring the milk, Matthew rubbed his eyes with his little fists and yawned. "Good morning sleepyhead," she said to him. He just looked at her with his big green eyes, and grinned sleepily. She laughed to herself as she set him in his highchair. When she was getting breakfast ready, Tony called. "Gooooooodddd morning" he said in his usual cheerful voice. "Good morning," "What's on the agenda today for you two?" "Uh, nothing really, just gonna relax today, maybe go to the Air and Space Museum. Do you want to have lunch?" "Can't sorry. Wish I could, swamped with work. I'll call at lunch today if I can." "Okay then, call you later, love you." "Love you too, bye." The call ended. She looked at Matthew "Well, I guess it's just you and me today." she said to Matthew. When they finished eating, Annabelle gave Matthew a bath and got him ready for the day. As she was getting ready, she realized that she forgot to feed the horses. She rushed to get dressed, grabbed Matthew, who was busy watching TV and walked briskly to the barn. "Mommy..." Matthew whined. "What baby?" she asked the toddler. He just looked out at the pasture. She just simply rolled her eyes and walked into the feed room and looked at the horses' feeding chart. *Good* she thought to herself, *No complicated feedings today.* One by one she scooped the feed in the stalls' feed barrels, figuring how much each horse needed. Annabelle came to the conclusion that it is very difficult to pour feed while balancing Matthew on her hip. When she finished, she set Matthew down and sighed in exhaustion. It was only 10:00 and the day was young. She caught a glimpse of Matthew walking away to a stall door. Casually she followed him, not wanting to scare him. He walked over to the last stall and looked up to find Turkey, the Quarter Horse looking down at him curiously. Matthew squealed with laughter when the horse blew in his face. Annabelle got her cellphone out an took a few quick pictures. When he turned around, Annabelle picked him up and brought him up close to the horse so he could pet the horse. Turkey just stood there patiently and didn't even move when he pulled his mane. ***** When they got back to the house, Annabelle noticed something different about the house but didn't know what. Quickly she looked through the house and brought Matthew up to his room for a nap. Then she saw something... She glanced into his bedroom and saw him. The man who Tony locked up several years back. Chip. He was just standing there with a gun in his hand, smiling like he won the lottery. "You know Mrs. DiNozzo, I've been waiting an awfully long time to meet you. Is that you and Tony's son? He sure looks like Tony, that bastard. Locked me up for five and a half years... Now time for me to get my revenge." he laughed. Annabelle just stood there with Matthew curled up on her, scared and started to whimper. "How the hell did you get in here?" she asked. "I'm a forensic scientist. I know every thing.. Okay you have two ways; either A you have five minutes to sort out what you have to say and then I kill you OR your child dies instantly, your choice." she knew he meant business. She could feel the evil seep out of him. He was insane. "I'll take choice A, but what will you do with Matthew when I'm dead and gone?" "He'll stay where you left him; I promise. Your time starts in three... two... one." he walked out of the room. She got her phone out and called Tony and left him a message. "A-Anthony it's me. I love you so much I would do anything for you. And I am. I changed my code to four simple letters: MATT. I am leaving a note on my phone to tell you everything. I love you. Be a good dad. You can do this. I love you Anthony Drake DiNozzo, never, ever forget that. I love you." she finished the call. As she finished typing the note, she turned on the baby monitor camera on record and set Matthew in his crib. He started to cry. "M-Matthew always remember Mommy will always love you no matter what. Mommy loves you. Be good for Daddy. I love you my baby, my baby you will always be. It's gonna be okay." she said as she was crouched down eye level to him, putting her hands on the bars of the crib. Matthew grabbed her hands as he stared at her. Annabelle looked at the camera that was hidden on one of the shelves in his room and made several hand motions at it. She looked back at Matthew and put her hands to his face and stroked his cheeks slowly and then started to cry softly. Chip slowly walked back into the room with the gun in his hand ready to fire. "I've been waiting so long to do this, it's pure enjoyment to me." She stood up and looked at him then Matthew then the camera. Chip raised the gun, and pulled the trigger, Four times, walked out of the room and out of the house. Matthew was just sitting there frightened, confused, and scared. He peered over to see his mother laying there, in a pool of blood. "Mommy?.." he asked. No reply. "MOMMY!.. MOMMY!..." he cried, and cried and cried. He kept repeating 'Mommy,' like a broken record. No one heard him, well the horses did but thought nothing of it. Eventually Matthew got to the point where he couldn't take it just standing in his crib and he struggled to get out of his crib, eventually winning. He toddled on to his mother and touched her. He moved her arms, but nothing happened. He looked at her with more tears in his eyes and cried more, to the point where he started throwing up. That day was probably the longest day in his life... *****  
>Two months later August 7th, 2011 (2 months, 14 days) Waking up to the alarm was to unusual for Tony, but today it was because it was Sunday, the day he drove to visit her. He missed her, his son will never have a mother like her again. She was everything to him. He loved her and she loved him, but now all he can do is tell her. The day started with waking up to crying from Matthew who obviously heard the alarm go off before Tony. He opened his eyes to see the time; 7:32 am. He rubbed his face, let out a low moan and got out of bed, almost tripping over the dog. When he got to Matthew's room, Matthew was standing up in his crib staring at the door. He put his hands up, motioning to be picked up by Tony. As he was picking him up, Tony's knee gave out. He fell to the floor, Matthew landing on top of him, crying again. Tony yelped and just laid there in pain. *Gotta get my damn knee fixed.* he thought to himself. As he stood up, he was holding Matthew trying to calm him down. "Matthew you're okay. You're gonna be fine- you hungry?" Matthew nodded. "Alright then lets go down stairs and find something to eat." Tony said to him as they went downstairs to the kitchen. During breakfast, Tony checked his e-mail to see if he got anything new. All he got was junk mail. Nothing interesting. After breakfast, Tony got Matthew ready as he did him self, and headed out for the morning. The car ride was quiet, so Tony put the radio on softly. He was thinking about what might happen this week at work. By the time they arrived at Silver Meadows Cemetery, Matthew was sleeping in his car seat. Tony just smiled to himself. He got Matthew out of the car and he walked to the grave. As he knelt down, Matthew started to wake up. "Daddy, where we?" "Visiting Mommy." he replied trying not to cry. "Where Mommy?" he asked slowly. *Great, now how can I explain to him that she is right in front of him? God, help me.* he thought. Tony put him down next to the gravestone and looked at him, he looked confused. "Matthew, Uh, Mommy is living with the angels, up there." he pointed to the sky. A tear escaped from eye as he told him this. Matthew just looked up and said nothing, his eyes searching for his mother who was nowhere to be found. Tony couldn't stand watching him. He looked at the grave and let out a long sigh. "Hi honey, its me. I miss you. Right now I wish you were here. My knee gave out today, I'm gonna get that fixed soon. Matthew is right here next to me, looking for you- it kills me to see him like this. You were right, he is just like me in so many ways. I love you so much..." he finished saying. " MOMMY WHERE YOU? MOMMY! MOMMY! COME OUT MOMMY!" Matthew screamed loudly. He ran off and started crying again after he tripped. Tony went after him and grabbed him and went back to the car. Tony held him close and started to cry with him. "It's okay buddy, I miss her too.. It's okay. Lets go home." ***** Matthew somewhat stopped crying when they arrived back to the house. "Hey kiddo I think it's time for you to have nap." "No daddy." "Oh yes you are." "I'M NOT TIRED!" he protested and started to cry again. " How does this sound, you take a nap now and then we can go to the movies? Okay?" "Okay." When Matthew was sleeping, Tony grabbed the baby monitor and snuck out to the barn to check on the horses. As he was walking he was accompanied by Diesel, the Doberman-Shepherd who looked like he was in the lake. "Hey Diesel" The dog looked up and wagged his tail. "Get the horses." the dog ran off into the pasture and in less than ten minutes, he was back herding six or seven horses to the gate, all with halters on. As Tony was halfway through, the baby monitor started to go off; Matthew woke up. He put the remaining three in the round pen and went to go get him. Tony walked into Matthew's room and saw he had tears laced on his eyelashes. Matthew had a nightmare. He picked the twenty-one month old up and started to rub his back in small circles. They went back to the barn and Tony set Matthew down and gave him his dummy. "Matthew, can you stay here, please?" He nodded. Immediately after Tony walked away to finish putting the horses up, Matthew stood up and looked around. He saw some red stuff on the ground that made kind of a trail and followed it. What Matthew didn't know that the red stuff was more than that.<p>*****<br>When Tony finished putting the last horse, that was Gibbs' Tennessee Walking Horse, Bullet, he noticed that Matthew was nowhere to be seen. He finally heard a soft whimper from on of the larger stalls and went over to it. He was shocked at the sight in front of him. Tony saw Matthew next to a body all bloody and insides coming out of his stomach. From Tony's point of view, it looked like there was a cloth over the body's face, but the cloth was removed. Matthew must've gotten curious and poke around the body's insides. Matthew hands, arms, and practically his whole body was covered in blood and other stuff. Then after that he must've crawled on over to where the head is and took the cloth off of the body's face. Matthew looked horrified. "M-Matthew," Tony said. He looked up and cried again. Tony picked up his cell phone and called Gibbs. "Yeah, Gibbs," "Boss we got a dead body here" Gibbs was in his basement finishing his boat the only thing he does on Sunday. "Where?" "The barn" "How the hell did a body end up there?" "I'd like to know that too" "Where's the kid?" "Um,well he found the body;" "WHAT?" "Matthew found the body, and of course was curious an-" "And decided to take a look and maybe even touch it." "How did you know?" "My gut." "And the thing is, boss, from what I can tell, the body was put here." "I'll call the team, and Tony," "Yeah boss?" "Call Annebel-... Sorry Tony." "It's okay." Tony choked. The call ended with that. *****  
>"What do we got here Tony?" Gibbs asked when he got out of the car with the rest of the team. "Other than a dead body, curious horses, and a terrified, bloody twenty-month old, we have nothing." Tony replied. "Why is he still like that?" Gibbs questioned Tony. "Well, Uh, I thought we needed blood samples from him." Gibbs just stared at Tony with an annoyed look. "Right, I will be back with a clean child and his clothes to be bagged and tagged." "Good thinking DiNozzo. " Gibbs replied with an annoyed tone. Tony picked the crying child up and carried him to the house and to the master bathroom. *Why, why did I leave him out of my sight? I mean I probably would have found the body, but why could've it been me? Matthew is going to have nightmares for a long time now.* Tony thought to himself as walked to the house. "Matthew, It's okay. Daddy is here." he said trying to calm him down. Matthew continued crying as Tony undressed him and drew a bath. As soon as the the bathtub was full with the the drain pipe closed, he kept the water on and was draining it at the same time to keep the water fresh. He gave Matthew a bath and when he was finished Matthew was still crying. "Hey buddy, it's okay now, it's okay." he reassured him. When they got back to the barn, Gibbs was finishing talking on the phone. He walked over to the father and son. "Abby is on her way here" "Why is she coming here, boss?" "To take Matthew while you help me process this crime scene; what was he doing wandering around the barn anyway?" Gibbs asked. "Well you see, I set him down because I had to finish putting the horses up." "Well congrats, DiNozzo you mentally scarred a young child; and to top it off, your own child." Gibbs said dryly. ************<br>A red hearse pulled into the driveway. Abby hurried out, heading towards the barn. "DiNozzo, what have you done now?" Abby asked. "Not DiNozzo, Abbs. Whoever did this." Gibbs said, pointing to the body. Abby glanced over. "Well, this is just hinky. There's a frightened little boy and a dead Marine... Speaking of little boys, where is Matthew?" Gibbs motioned to the second stall. Abby hurried over. Tony and Matthew were in an empty stall, trying to calm him down, it wasn't really working that well. "Look Matthew, it's Abby! She's here to play with you," said DiNozzo when he saw her. Matthew only whimpered and started to cry again, the fifth time. He set Matthew down an was talking to Abby while Matthew was hugging Tony's leg. "Don't let him out of your sight, Abby," DiNozzo said. "Sir yes sir!" Abby replied cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood. Abby took Matthew's hand and walked into the yard. "Okay, what do you want to do, Matthew?" Abby asked. "Swim," Matthew mumbled. "Alrighty, let's go inside," Abby said. She took his hand and walked to the house. "Do you think he'll be okay?- I mean without me?" Tony asked Gibbs. "How should I know? Do I look like the Wizard Of Oz?" Gibbs replied, slightly irritated. "Actually, you kind of do, I mean with the..." *HEAD SLAP* "Sorry boss," "McGee; bag and tag, Ziva; shoot & sketch,, Tony; you're with me." "Where we goin' boss?" Tony asked as he followed Gibbs. "To follow the blood trail." he pointed at it. *****  
>After about an hour passed the team was still busy with the crime scene. McGee wasn't to fond of the horses around the barn. When he bent down to bag a piece of evidence, Bullet nudged him out of the way, a horse's version of a Gibbs slap; but much more painful. "Damn horse pushed me over." he said out loud, not meaning to. Ziva snickered to herself, as Tony peered around and saw what happened. "Careful McCowboy, you don't want to fall into anything smelly." "Funny" McGee replied as he got up. "Ziva, what'd ya find?" Gibbs asked as he was feeding Bullet some corn. "I called Ducky and Palmer and they will be here shortly, his name is Corporal Jason Grey, 24,was on a 72 hr., went missing a week ago..." "Well that's a start, Tony the barn has servialence, try to pull it up." "On it boss" Tony walked into the tack room. Ducky walked into the barn with Palmer close behind. "Jethro, who do we have the pleasure today?" Ducky questioned. "Corporal Jason Grey, went missing a week ago, got a T. O. D yet?" Gibbs asked as Ducky got out the thermometer. "Precisely, 9 hours ago, poor lad suffered greatly, which in his surroundings, no one could see him, except a curious toddler wandering about the stables- speaking of the rascal; where is he?" "In the house with Abby." Gibbs replied. "You know this reminds me of a murder in Scotland where a boy was working in a barn an-" "Not now Duck." Gibbs said "PROBIE! GET IN HERE AND GET THIS THING TO WORK!" Tony yelled. McGee groaned and walked into the tack room. *****<br>"Matthew, can you please come out from under there? Please? For Abby?" "No." "Pretty please?" "NO!" he started to cry; the sixth time. Abby got the phone and called Tony. "Hello?" "Tony! Major emergency, Matthew won't come out from under your bed! I've tried everything but he still won't come out!" "On my way." "Thanks!" the call ended. "I'll be back McGeek, get the feed up from 18 hrs ago until now." McGee nodded. *****  
>When Tony went into the master bedroom, he saw Abby 12 way under the bed. He grabbed Abby's ankles and pulled her out. "TONY! Not funny, I could've gotten out myself!" "Sorry Abs, what's up?" "Well, the coloring didn't last that long, so i took him swimming in the pool;no problem. After swimming I gave him a bath and put his clothes on, I set him down to change out of my swimsuit in the bathroom. As soon as I walked back to his room he was running towards your room. I went after him, but before I knew it, he was under the bed in the far corner." Tony looked under the bed and saw Matthew curled up in a ball, sucking his thumb and crying. "Hey buddy, it's okay. Daddy's here now; it's okay. Matthew you can come out. You're gonna be okay." "N- no" Tony reached his hand under the bed and offered to him, but Matthew pushed it away. Tong stood up and sat on the bed with Abby. "Tony, what are we doing?" she asked. "I'm waiting for him to come up." "Will he?" "Eventually," he replied. "So, how was it today?" "Well, interesting to say the least." 


End file.
